Valve seat lubrication oil coating device

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a valve seat lubrication oil coating device. More specifically, an oil pan is filled with lubrication oil and configured so that a valve seat partially soaks therein. An oil tank is equipped with a hydraulic pump, and an oil pan oil supplier supplies oil to the oil pan via the hydraulic pump from the oil tank. Additionally, a coating oil supplier coats an outer circumferential surface of a portion of the valve seat, which is not being soaked in the oil, with the oil from the oil tank.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2012-0119956 filed in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office on Oct. 26, 2012, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a valve seat lubrication oil coatingdevice. More particularly, the present invention relates to a valve seatlubrication oil coating device that coats a valve seat with lubricationoil before the valve seat is assembled.

(b) Description of the Related Art

Valve seats are typically used in the assembly of an engine. These seatsinfluence the performance/output of an engine, such as opening/closingof a valve. A valve seat and a valve guide are generally fitted into acylinder head by a fitting shaft, under a load of about three tons. Whenthe fitting load is insufficient, the valve seat or the valve guide isnot fully fitted, or when the fitting load is too large, the valve seator the valve guide may be broken.

In general, lubrication oil is typically sprayed onto the cylinder headby a spray nozzle to provide a smooth fit. However, when lubrication oilis sprayed onto the cylinder head by a spray nozzle, it is difficult tocontrol the amount of spray applied and the spray nozzle may becomeclogged with foreign substances. Further, when the amount of sprayed oilis insufficient, the valve seat may be broken due to an excessivefitting load. In contrast, when the oil is sprayed too much, the oil mayalso be applied other equipment that is not supposed to be coated withthe lubrication oil and the equipment then becomes contaminated. Thus,it is necessary to install a pad for preventing contamination and costincreases due to excessively spraying oil.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the background of the invention andtherefore it may contain information that does not form the prior artthat is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill inthe art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a valve seatlubrication oil coating device capable of coating a valve seat to beassembled with a cylinder head of an engine, with lubrication oil inadvance.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a valveseat lubrication oil coating device may include: an oil pan filled withlubrication oil and configured so that a valve seat partially soakstherein; an oil tank equipped with a hydraulic pump; an oil pan oilsupplier configured to supply oil to the oil pan via the hydraulic pumpfrom the oil tank; and a coating oil supplier configured to coat theouter circumferential surface of a portion of the valve seat, which isnot being soaked in the oil, with the oil from the oil tank.

The oil pan may be formed in a semicircle in which the valve seat isplaced. The oil pan oil supplier may include a plurality (e.g., two) oilpan oil supply lines configured to supply the oil to the oil pan fromthe oil tank and a plurality of oil exhaust lines (e.g., 2) configuredto return the oil to the oil tank from the oil pan. The oil pan oilsupply lines may be provided in a pair to communicate with both ends ofthe upper portion of the oil pan.

Regulators may be disposed in the oil pan oil supply lines to uniformlysupply the oil. The coating oil supplier may include: an oil coatingdevice configured to apply the oil onto the outer circumferentialsurface of the portion of the valve seat which is not being soaked inthe oil; and a coating oil supply line configured to supply the oil tothe oil coating device from the oil tank. The oil coating device may beequipped with a solenoid valve and may control the amount of oil that isapplied to the outer circumferential surface of the valve seat. Thecoating oil supplier may further include a regulator disposed in thecoating oil supply line to uniformly supply the oil to the oil coatingdevice.

According to a valve seat lubrication oil coating device of an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, it is possible to coat a valve seatto be assembled with a cylinder head of an engine with lubrication oilin advance and to reduce the amount of oil wasted on portions other thanthe valve seat and the portion where the valve seat is fitted, such thatit is possible to reduce the manufacturing costs involved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention will now bedescribed in detail with reference to an exemplary embodiment thereofillustrated the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by wayof illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the presentinvention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a valve seat lubrication oil coatingdevice according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating fitting a valve seat that the valve seatlubrication oil coating device according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention has been applied to.

<Description of symbols>  10: Valve seat 20: Oil pan  30: Hydraulic pump40: Oil tank  50: Oil pan oil supplier 52, 54: Oil pan oil supplyline(s)  62, 64: Oil exhaust line(s) 72, 74, 84: Regulator(s)  80:Coating oil supplier 82: Coating oil supply line  90: Oil coating device92: Solenoid valve 110: Fitting shaft

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, only certain exemplaryembodiments of the present invention have been shown and described,simply by way of illustration.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items.

As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments maybe modified in various different ways, all without departing from thespirit or scope of the present invention. The parts indicated by thesame reference numerals are the same components throughout thespecification.

In the drawings, the thickness of layers, films, panels, regions, etc.,are exaggerated for clarity. When it is represented that each part suchas a layer, a film, an area, a plate, or the like, is “on an upperportion of” or “above” another part is intended to include not only thecase in which each part is “directly on an upper portion of” or“directly above” another part but also the case in which the other partis between each part and another part. In contrast, when an element isreferred to as being “directly on” another element, there are nointervening elements present.

Throughout the specification, unless explicitly described to thecontrary, the word “comprise” and variations such as “comprises” or“comprising,” will be understood to imply the inclusion of statedelements but not the exclusion of any other elements.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a valve seat lubrication oil coatingdevice according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention andFIG. 2 is a view illustrating fitting a valve seat that the valve seatlubrication oil coating device according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention has been applied to.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a valve seat lubrication oil coating deviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includesan oil pan 20 filled with lubrication oil such that a valve seat 10partially soaks therein, an oil tank 40 equipped with a hydraulic pump30, an oil pan oil supplier 50 supplying oil to the oil pan 20 via thehydraulic pump 30 from the oil tank 40, and a coating oil supplier 80configured and positioned to coat the outer circumferential surface ofthe portion of the valve seat 10, which is not being soaked in the oil,with the oil from the oil tank 40. The oil fan 20 may be formed in asemicircle in which the valve seat 10 is placed.

The oil pan oil supplier 50 may include a plurality oil pan oil supplylines 52 and 54 for supplying the oil to the oil pan 20 from the oiltank 40 and a plurality of oil exhaust lines 62 and 64 configured andpositioned to return the oil to the oil tank 40 from the oil pan 20. Theoil pan oil supply lines 52 and 54 may be provided in a pair tocommunicate with both ends of an upper portion of the oil pan 20.Furthermore, regulators 72 and 74 may be disposed in the oil pan oilsupply lines 52 and 54 respectively to uniformly supply the oil.

The coating oil supplier 80 may include an oil coating device 90configured to apply the oil onto the outer circumferential surface ofthe portion of the valve seat 10 which is not being soaked in the oiland a coating oil supply line 82 configured to supply the oil to the oilcoating device 90 from the oil tank. The oil coating device 90 isequipped with a solenoid valve 92, so that the oil coating device 90 cancontrol the amount of oil that is applied to the outer circumferentialsurface of the valve seat 10. The coating oil supplier 80 may furtherinclude a regulator 84 disposed in the coating oil supply line 82 touniformly supply the oil to the oil coating device 90.

The operation of the valve seat lubrication oil coating device accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is describedhereafter with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

First, the valve seat 10 is placed into the oil pan 20 so that a portionof the oil seat 10, for example, the portion B in FIG. 2 is wet with thelubrication oil. Oil is supplied to the oil pan 20 through the hydraulicpump 30 and the oil pan oil supply lines 52 and 54 and the oil remainingin the oil pan 20 is returned to the oil tank 40 through the oil exhaustlines 62 and 64. The regulators 72 and 74 control the amount of suppliedoil so that the oil is uniformly supplied such that the valve seat 10 iswetted with an appropriate amount of oil.

Oil is also applied to the outer circumferential surface of a portion ofthe valve seat 10, which is not being soaked in the oil, that is, theportion A in FIG. 2, via the oil coating device 90, and a small amountof oil flows onto and wets the outer circumferential surface of theportion of the valve seat 10, which is not being soaked in the oil, bythe operation of the solenoid valve 92.

In this process, the regulator 84 controls the oil flow so that theamount of oil being supplied to the oil coating device 90 is uniform.The operation of the solenoid valve 92 is controlled by, e.g., an ECU(Electric Control Unit), such that the supplied oil wets the outercircumferential surface of a portion of the valve seat 10.

The valve seat 10 wetted with the oil is fitted into an insertionaperture 122 of a cylinder head 120 by a fitting shaft 110 connected to,e.g., a robot (not shown). The valve seat lubrication oil coating deviceaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention allows thevalve seat 10 to be smoothly fitted into the insertion aperture 122 bycoating only valve seat 10 with oil rather than the cylinder head due toan excessive amount oil and lack of spray control.

According to a valve seat lubrication oil coating device of an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, it is possible to reduce oil thatis unnecessarily sprayed onto other equipment or parts in the workspace, because the supplied oil in the present invention is not beingsprayed onto the cylinder head. It is also possible to apply oil to onlya portion of the valve seat 10, provide only a predetermined amount ofoil, and reduce a waste of oil by returning the remaining oil to the oiltank.

While this invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A valve seat lubrication oil coating devicecomprising: an oil pan filled with lubrication oil and configured sothat a valve seat partially soaks therein; an oil tank equipped with ahydraulic pump; an oil pan oil supplier configured to supply oil to theoil pan via the hydraulic pump from the oil tank; and a coating oilsupplier configured to coat the outer circumferential surface of aportion of the valve seat, which is not being soaked in the oil, withthe oil from the oil tank.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the oil panis formed in a semicircle in which the valve seat is placed.
 3. Thedevice of claim 2, wherein the oil pan oil supplier includes: oil panoil supply lines configured to supply the oil to the oil pan from theoil tank; and oil exhaust lines configured to return the oil to the oiltank from the oil pan.
 4. The device of claim 3, wherein the oil pan oilsupply lines are provided in a pair to communicate with both ends of theupper portion of the oil pan.
 5. The device of claim 3, whereinregulators are disposed in the oil pan oil supply lines to uniformlysupply the oil.
 6. The device of claim 3, wherein the coating oilsupplier includes: an oil coating device configured to apply the oilonto an outer circumferential surface of the portion of the valve seatwhich is not being soaked in the oil; and a coating oil supply lineconfigured to supply the oil to the oil coating device from the oiltank.
 7. The device of claim 6, wherein the oil coating device isequipped with a solenoid valve and configured to control the amount ofoil that is applied to an outer circumferential surface of the valveseat.
 8. The device of claim 6, wherein the coating oil supplier furtherincludes a regulator disposed in the coating oil supply line touniformly supply the oil to the oil coating device.
 9. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the coating oil supplier includes: an oil coatingdevice configured to apply oil to an outer circumferential surface ofthe portion of the valve seat which is not being soaked in the oil; anda coating oil supply line configured to supply oil to the oil coatingdevice from the oil tank.
 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the oilcoating device is equipped with a solenoid valve and configured tocontrol the amount of oil that is applied to an outer circumferentialsurface of the valve seat.
 11. The device of claim 9, wherein thecoating oil supplier further includes a regulator disposed in thecoating oil supply line to uniformly supply the oil to the oil coatingdevice.